Same Name, Different Authors

[Danielle]

How do you correct a title, or mark new titles correctly, if there are two authors with the same name and virtually all the one author's are rolling up under the other author's profile?

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

[Cait]

Authors with the same name are disambiguated by the number of spaces between first and last names. If there are books which should be on one author's profile which are showing up on another's profile, just list them here and some can move them by changing the number of spaces in the author name.

[Danielle]

Cait wrote: "Authors with the same name are disambiguated by the number of spaces between first and last names. If there are books which should be on one author's profile which are showing up on another's profi..."

Thanks, Cait, but I've got it. Once I knew how the fix was easy.

Best,

Danielle

[Devin]

Is there a list of disambigged authors somewhere? I think it would be great to have one when one adds new books (and tries to disambig authors who have been wrongly attributed to books).

[Banjomike]

Devin wrote: "Is there a list of disambigged authors somewhere? I think it would be great to have one when one adds new books (and tries to disambig authors who have been wrongly attributed to books)."

There is one, sort of. It is so hopelessly out-of-date that it is better to ignore it and approach each edit as though there is another author with the same name.

[Devin]

Good to know. Thanks. :)

[Teresa]

I am a Goodreads author, and there is a book listed on my page that is attributed to me, but I did not write it or even contribute to it. Could this be removed?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...

Thank you!

[Danielle]

Teresa wrote: "I am a Goodreads author, and there is a book listed on my page that is attributed to me, but I did not write it or even contribute to it. Could this be removed?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/..."

Fixed!

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Devin wrote: "Is there a list of disambigged authors somewhere?"

On each author's edit page, there is a link to "similar author names". That will show you if the John Smith you are editing is one of many, and link to each one.

[Rand]

Law as a Leap of Faith Essays on Law in General & Offences and Defences Selected Essays in the Philosophy of Criminal Law is attributed to a living John Gardner as are Longevity The Means of Prolonging Life After Middle Age, Day of Absolution & The Return of Moriarty Sherlock Holmes' Nemesis Lives Again .
i suspect that the same is the case for Developing Teacher Assessment and Household Medicine and Sick-Room Guide, Classroom X-Factor The Role of Body Language and Non-Verbal Communication in Teaching the

[Banjomike]

rivka wrote: "On each author's edit page, there is a link to "similar author names". That will show you if the John Smith you are editing is one ..."

Unless they are Goodreads authors. Is there a way to get at that data if they are Goodreads authors?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Not sure, as I can access it the usual way. ;)

[Banjomike]

rivka wrote: "Not sure, as I can access it the usual way. ;)"

Humph.

Anyway, it would be handy if non-staff could have read-only access to certain elements of a Goodreads authors setup. Like, the 'similar names' page and 'are they a librarian' and 'does their name have disambiguation spaces'.

[Vicky]

There's not a way to access it for non-librarians. Even the direct link:

goodreads.com /author/similar_names/[AUTHOR # HERE]

returns the error that you can't edit the GR author page.

I don't see a reason why the "similar names" page can't be available to all Goodreads members, but I would especially like it to be available to librarians.

[Emy]

Vicky wrote: "I don't see a reason why the "similar names" page can't be available to all Goodreads members, but I would especially like it to be available to librarians. "

Me too :(

Mind you I do find some 'fun' fix problems when I'm working around that issue :P